All Odds Against Us: A Touch of Death
by Kaira Fire-Demon
Summary: RenoOC The story that explains All Odds Against Us from the beginning. A romanceComedy involving Reno and a girl with a personality just the opposite of his. Not to mention her unique ability...
1. In The Beginning

Well, I've finally gotten enough reviews, so here's the story I promised you that will explain how it all began. This story will explain everything from the time Reno and Karra meet up to just after "All Odds Against Us" takes place. After that, I've already got a sequel planned out that will continue the story after that. So enjoy! And please, leave a review. Speaking of reviews, I wanna give a HUGE THANK YOU to all of my reviewers. I love you all so much! You're the motivation I have for writing fan fictions, so trust me when I say "If you stop reviewing, I'll stop writing." I mean...not that I'm trying to threaten you or anything...or am I? ...EH! JUST KIDDING!

Disclaimer: Of course, I don't own the Turks! ...why the hell would I sat that I do! I only own Karra, Kotoba, Aeda, Riku, any other OCs I decide to add later, and this story itself. Wow, I have too many OCs...sorry 'bout that. But don't worry, itstill revolve strictly around the Turks.

**Chapter One  
In the Beginning **

Reno laid motionless in the middle of the dungeon cell that he and his fellow Turks had been placed in. He was conscious now, but with such pain searing through his body, he almost wished he weren't. Rude sat a couple feet away from him leaning against a wall, while Tseng sat against the wall to his right, and Elena slept exhausted beside Tseng.

The whole dungeon, a long narrow hallway with cells on either side, was silent. Even the few other prisoners that were in there made not a single sound. Tseng found the silence so bothersome that he sort of wanted Reno to wake up already and continue being his loud, obnoxious self. But something told him Reno wasn't gonna do much talking today. Tseng stared down as the young red-head in front of him, at his ripped clothes and the strange "burn" marks on his skin. _What in God's name could they have used to interrogate him? _Tseng thought. _They aren't even burn marks...they're...I don't know what they are. In all my years of fighting for ShinRa, I've never seen any wounds like those. _

"It's almost like they took acid and just dumped it on his skin," Rude suddenly broke the silence, noticing that Tseng was staring at the marks on Reno's arms, chest, face and neck.

It had been about twelve hours now since the four of them had entered the base of a sorceress named Lillith. In her possession were three powerful dragons, known as the dragon spirits. These three dragons (the Dragon of Darkness, the Dragon of Light, and the Dragon of Neutrality) were said to be capable of immense power if they are used together. Rufus Shinra heard about these dragons being in Midgar, and he wanted that power for himself. Of course, even Rufus had no idea what he was dealing with.

-- -- -- -- -- --

"So he wouldn't tell you anything, huh?" Sorceress Lillith asked Karra (A/N pronounced _karr- ruh_).

"No, Mistress. Nothing. Even after putting a truth spell on him, he still wouldn't answer."

"Damn," Lillith swore. "Where is he now? Back in the cell?"

"Yes, Mistress," Karra answered bowing in front of the sorceress in fake reverence.

Lillith sighed under her breath. "Well, just leave them there for now. Maybe if we're lucky, he'll die of pain."

"And if he did, what would you intend to do with the other three?"

"Kill them.," she answered bluntly. "If they're so confident as to break into my fortress and attempt whatever mission it is they're trying to accomplish, then they deserve to be murdered."

-- -- -- -- -- --

"You know, if you would just tell us why you're here, it would make things a lot easier on you," the man guarding the Turks' cell tried to convince them.

"And why would we tell you that?" Tseng answered. "It wouldn't be a covert mission if we explained the whole thing to you."

"Covert? Well, you've been doing a good job of that, haven't you?" the twenty year old "guard" mocked. "We're not on the side of the sorceress. The other two dragons and I, as well as the two girls who interrogated your friend, are all here against our will. So you can believe me when I say I feel your pain."

"Other two dragons...?" Elena asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily. The sound of people talking had woken her up. "Wait, so that means that you're..."

"That's right. I'm one of the three dragons you've heard so much about. The Dragon of Darkness. The name's Riku."

"But...but you don't _look_ like a dragon," Elena stated the obvious.

Riku just rolled his eyes and smiled. "Dragons have human forms as well as dragon forms. I thought _everyone_ knew that."

The blonde Turk just glared at him for mocking her.

"So are you gonna tell me your names or do we have to interrogate you to get _that_ information too?"

Elena glanced at Tseng to check if it was okay to give out their names. After he had given her the go, she introduced the four of them, including Reno who was still laying in the center of the cell...unconscious again.

Riku stared at the red haired man who lay motionless in the cell. With a heavy sigh, he looked up and down the narrow hall of the dungeon to make sure he was alone, stood up, and began to walk away.

"Where are you going so suddenly?" Tseng asked.

Riku looked back at the mysterious, black haired man sitting against his cold, cell wall. Then glanced over at his younger, scrawny looking partner laying in front of him. "I feel sorry for your friend. I'm gonna go find Karra and Kotoba and bring them here to heal him."

"Are you allowed to do this?" Tseng asked another question.

Riku just smiled. "Of course not." Then he preceded to walk away from. He placed his hand on one of the metal bars of a cell and his body began to glow an eerie black, the young man then walked through the bars of the cell, and then through the stone wall on the opposite side of the cell.

"Hello?" Elena called, not being able to see where he had gone. The cells were designed so that you could only see directly in front of them, all three other walls were made of thick, stone bricks. "Where did he go?"

"I don't think you're going to believe me," answered Rude, "but I think he just walked _through_ that wall."

About fifteen minutes later, Riku returned by the same method at which he had left. Only, this time, he had with him two girls. One about eighteen in age with short, black hair; the other about eight with long, white hair and empty, black eyes.

"So these two are suppose to help him, huh?" Tseng asked suspiciously. "They're the ones who put him in this state to begin with."

"We were following orders," the black haired girl answered.

"And if you're not on the side of the sorceress as this guy claims, then why do you even follow her orders?" Elena added, getting frustrated with all of the confusion.

"Because it's either that or die," she answered.

Rude looked back at Elena. "Good answer," he joked.

"This is Karra," Riku introduced, pointing to the black haired girl. "And the little one is Kotoba, she's the one who's going to heal him." Riku looked down at the white haired girl and held out his hand. She then grabbed his hand and the two started glowing the same eerie, black light. As they stepped through the iron bars, Elena stared at them in disbelief. Even Rude had an expression of surprise.

"How do you do that?" Elena asked. "What are you?"

"I told you," he answered. "I'm a dragon of darkness. A shadow isn't made of matter...it can go through whatever it wants." She didn't know what he was talking about, but decided not to argue...her head was already spinning with a ton of confusing, new information.

The little girl had walked over to Reno's body and sat down beside him. Placing her hands on his bare chest and whispering a word under her breath, the strange, acid-like burns began to disappear and return to normal flesh. She then did the same with the rest of the burn marks.

"Kotoba," Karra called to her from outside the cell. "Wake him up too."

The girl nodded her head, and whispered another strange word to herself. "Utei."

She then backed up and staggered back to Riku, grabbing his side to hold herself up.

"Is she okay?" Elena asked.

"She'll be fine," Riku answered. "She's just not used to her powers yet."

Sure enough, Reno fluttered his eyes open, groaning as the pain returned to his consciousness. However, to his surprise, the pain was far more bearable now. He sat up slowly, rubbing his head.

"Reno, you okay?" Tseng asked him.

"Ugh..." he moaned. "I guess..." He then noticed the two girls standing outside of the cell (Riku and Kotoba and gone back out). "You..." he said, glaring at the girls who had interrogated him. "What the hell are you here for now?" he looked away as he said it, not really wanting to look at a sight he disgusted so much.

"I'm sorry," Karra answered, not saying anymore than that.

"Okay, I am _really_ confused right now!" Elena finally blew up. "Will somebody please explain to me why you two injured him and then healed him! What is the point of that!"

"The point is we knew we could heal him from the beginning," Riku answered. "We only tortured him to save our own asses from the sorceress. But if you tell us now why you're here, then maybe we can help you and get you back out of here."

"And why should we believe you?" Tseng asked.

"Because you have two choices," Karra replied. "Either you believe us and trust that we're telling the truth...or you die here."

"What makes you so sure we can't escape?" Tseng continued untrustingly.

"You can't escape..." is all Karra said in reply.

"If _we_ can't escape, I'm pretty sure _you_ can't either," added Riku. "We're just trying to save your butts here, okay? And you're not makin' it very easy for us. Now tell us what you want so we can give it to you, and you can be on your way."

"Tseng, we don't really have any other options," Elena reminded him.

"How can you possibly think we can trust those good for nothing liars!" Reno blew up at Elena. "If they really wanted to help us, they wouldn't have interrogated me. At the most, they could have faked an interrogation, but they didn't!"

"But Reno, this is a sorceress we're dealing with," Elena argued. "She probably has powers that we wouldn't even understand."

Reno just scoffed and looked the other way. "Elena, you've been playing Final Fantasy VIII too much. I mean, do you really think that something that happened in a Final Fantasy game could happen _here_?"

"...umm..."

(A/N that was suppose do be a joke by the way...LAUGH DAMMIT!)

"We want _you_," Tseng interrupted.

"...excuse me? ...I'm sorry, but...I already have a girlfriend," Riku answered him.

Reno started laughing but forced himself to stop once he saw the deathly glare that Tseng had thrown at him.

"You know what I meant," Tseng answered in a harsh yet calm voice. "We want the dragons. Our orders were to find you and take you."

"You really thought it would be _that_ easy?" Riku asked, smiling at the Turk's arrogance. Tseng didn't answer. "You're out of your league, human." the dragon answered, walking away as he said it. "Karra, you guard for a while."

-- -- -- -- --

Hours had past now and Reno had regained the strength to sit upright. He sat next to Tseng in the back of the cell...glaring at Karra. Karra sat in front of the Turks' cell, trying to avoid eye contact with Reno. Every minute or two the black haired girl would look up to see if he was still staring at her...and, of course, he was.

"Would you stop glaring at me!" she finally broke. "I told you, I didn't have a choice but to interrogate you!"

Reno softened his glare and smiled. "What makes you think I'm still mad about that?" Truth be told, he _was_ still mad. "How do you know I'm not just staring at you for the fun of it?"

"...And, dare I ask, why would you do that...?" she dully asked, rolling her eyes and glaring at him.

"Cause it seems to make you nervous."

Karra didn't answer to that.

"Reno, are you _seriously_ hitting on her!" Elena asked bluntly.

"No!" he lied. "I'm just trying to entertain myself."

"Oh, so that's all I am, huh? Entertainment?" Karra retorted. "And what's so wrong with him hitting on me?" she asked Elena. "I'm not _that_ ugly."

"I'll say..." Reno whispered under his breath.

"What did you say?" Karra glared and Reno, standing up and stepping over to the cell.

"...nothing..."

"I think he basically said that you're sexy," Rude entered the conversation, deciding it might be fun to take advantage of yet another awkward situation Reno had gotten himself into.

"Wouldn't surprise me..." Elena added, glaring at Reno. "He says that about every girl."

"I've never said that about _you_," Reno pointed out to Elena.

Elena gasped in surprise. "What's _that_ suppose to mean!" Reno just laughed.

Tseng glanced over at Karra, deciding to join in on the fun. "I think I also caught him staring at your, uh..." He motioned to his chest. "...earlier."

"I was not!" Reno yelled, forgetting about Elena who was about to club him over the head with her fist.

"Hmm, you sure were quick to defend yourself there, Reno," Rude joked. "I wonder why."

"I..." Reno rubbed his head, which was now aching. Elena sat next to him with a triumphant expression on her face. "What are you implying?" He pointed a finger at Rude accusingly.

"Oh...nothing," The man said, turning away to try and cover his grin. Reno just glared at him playfully and relaxed back against the wall.

-------------------------------------------------------------

So what'd ya think of chapter one? If you liked it, please review! Like I said, that's what fuels my motivation to write. And remember, just because I've started on this story, doesn't mean you can't still review the first one...okay, now I'm just being greedy... lol. And if this chapter didn't make much sense...don't worry. All will be explained in due time, such as how the Turks ended up in the prison, who it was that put them there, and why. Hopefully I wont take long to update, but it is ME we're talking about...so there's really no telling how long it'll take.


	2. Answer Me This

Gosh, this is kind of a hard story to write. I know where the plot is suppose to be going, but I'm not quite sure how to get it there... Oh well, bear with me. Heh... Once again, the chapter may be slightly boring as I'm still trying to explain a lot of things. So if you can handle a few boring explanations here and there, I think you'll be fine. Anyway, here's chapter two! Enjoy! And, as always, please leave a review.

**Chapter Two  
Answer Me This**

It had been almost three weeks now since Rufus, president of Shin-Ra Inc. had sent the Turks from the mansion in Nibelheim to the great metropolis of Midgar in search of three powerful dragons. A sorceress named Lillith had made her base in the city, taking over every area of every sector, from the highest skyscraper to the lowest valley of the slums. The people now lived under her rule. Children walked to school at the sight of soldiers standing guard at every street corner. And in the center of the city, a large building once belonging to Shin-Ra Inc. had now been distorted to look like a dark fortress, just as the sorceress wanted it.

On arriving in Midgar Tseng, Rude, Reno, and Elena stealthily sneaked past the heavily guarded streets and into the base. Upon entering that base however, they were abruptly halted by a two men holding machine guns and a woman standing between them The woman had long black hair pulled back in a braided bun. Her eyes were blood red, her gown a deep shade of crimson violet. The soldiers, leading their four prisoners to a dungeon deep beneath the fortress, referred to this woman as Mistress Lillith.

"64,827 bottles of beer on the wall. 64,827. You drink it dry and then tape it high. 64,828 bottles of beer on the wall."

"Aren't you suppose to start that song at a hundred and then count _down_?" Karra asked, annoyed, as she walked over to the dungeon cell and sat down. It was her shift on prison guard duty...a job which she loathed. Mostly because it meant putting up with the annoying red head and his almost as annoying friends.

"Well, I _was_ doing that," Reno answered. "but I kept running out of beer. So I started singing it from one and kept going higher."

"And he's been keeping track of what number he's on so that he can take breaks and then start again..." Elena added, obviously at her last nerve after being stuck in a cell with him for 19 days. "I thought you and the dragon were finding a way to get us out."

"We _are_," Karra answered. "But if it were _that_ simple, do you really think that we ourselves would have been trapped here for almost a year now?"

"You've been here for that long?" Tseng asked from his corner of the cell.

"Unfortunately," she replied, Kotoba nodding her head as if to confirm the fact.

"Great..." Reno complained. "So we could be here a while."

A couple more hours had passed. Guards came, guards went, only to be replaced by another set of guards. _What the hell do they think they're guarding anyway?_ Reno asked himself, annoyed and bored by the whole situation. "It's not like we can get out," he blurted out loud, not really meaning to. But then again, Reno never had a tight rein on his tongue. Realizing it was too late to take back his words, he decided to just go with the flow. Now that was something he was good at. "You're wasting your time," he continued.

The two men, weighed down with steel armor, glanced at each. They seemed then to be asking themselves the same question.

"Ya know," the shorter, fat one said. "He's got a point. They're not getting outta that cell. And even if they _did_ manage to find a way out, they'd _never_ make it out of the building."

The taller, but still rather stocky, soldier pondered the idea of abandoning his duties. "Yeah, that's true. But if Sorceress Lillith found out, we'd be dead men."

"Then we wont let her find out," reassured the short one. "Now come on. Lets go hunt down a couple of cute soldierettes and have a good time."

The taller man looked back in the cell and his prisoners.

"Hey, I wont tell," Reno assured him jokingly. 

The man looked back over at his comrade, nodding his head in agreement. The two men then left the room, and the four Turks were once again left in the chill, darkness of their prison.

"UGH!" Reno exclaimed no more than fifteen minutes after the guards had left. "I swear to God, this dreary silence is gonna be the death of me!"

"Praise God," Elena sarcastically replied. "It's about time _something_ finished you off."

Reno just glared at his coworker. "...Ha ha..."

The dungeon was frigid, damp, lit only by dim lanterns hung between every other cell. The silence of the hall gave off an ominous chill.

The tone in Elena's voice suddenly grew serious. "I really don't like being down here...I feel like I'm in some R rated horror movie."

"Aww...what's wrong, Elena? Scared?" Reno teased.

"Hey!" Elena exclaimed in a hushed voice, afraid to talk any louder; fearing that if she did, she may wake the dead and they would come devour her. "I watched a horror movie with my nanny when I was only four years old and dark scary places have terrified me ever since."

Reno glanced over at her, lifting an eyebrow in a mix of surprise and confusion. Oh, he wasn't surprised that she was afraid of ghost stories. What shocked him is that she was actually pouring her heart out to him about her secret fears. He just sighed, wondering if the solitude of this place would have the same effect on him. "Elena, I think you've been stuck here too long. It's going to your head..."

The four of them suddenly heard footsteps coming from the darkness of the dungeon hall. The torch lighting their cell flickered out, as if it were in alliance with Reno, wanting to scare the blonde out of Elena's hair.

"AAAAAAHHHHH" Elena screamed as the cell went pitch black.

"AAAAAAHHHHH" came another scream from outside the cell. The scream sounded rather childish, but then again, in Reno's mind it sounded just like Elena's.

"Hold on," the childish voice said, still sounding rather shaky from the sudden shock of hearing a woman scream bloody murder. The footsteps slowly sounded farther away from the cell again. Rude and Reno could see from where they sat, a small girl grabbing at one of the hanging torches from another part of the wall. She walked back over after retrieving it, and set the torch in place of the one that had gone out.

"I'll light this one back up later," she said, setting the burned out lantern on the cold stone floor. "So you're the people that Riku and Mama told me about."

"You scared me to death!" Elena cried, breathing heavily.

"Oh, come on, Elena," Reno continued to mock her. "How can you be scared of a little girl? Or is that another secret fear of yours?"

"Reno, stop it," another voice said. This time Elena wasn't the one arguing with him. It was Tseng. "Leave her alone," he said sternly. Tseng gave Elena a sidelong glance, watching her shiver from the cold and her own imagined fear. He smiled at her, revealing that he does in fact have a soft side, if not only for her. "Come here, Elena."

Elena lifted her head from the fetal position she had placed herself in, wondering why he asked this of her. She crawled over to him on all fours. She would have felt stupid standing up walking a few feet and then sitting back down in another spot. At reaching Tseng's side, he held out an arm, wrapped it around her shoulder, and pulled her in beside him.

Next thing Elena knew, her head was resting on Tseng's chest. _OHMYGAWD!_ she thought. _How did this...why is he...but I thought...OHMYGAWD! _She felt her heart about to beat out of her chest. She tried to steady her breathing, not wanting to seem too surprised, but she found this to be a most difficult task.

"Yeah, yeah," Reno said in what sounded like annoyance. "Go run to your boyfriend for protection against the evil Reno monster."

"He's not my– " Elena quietly started before being interrupted by Tseng.

"Shut up, Reno," the stoic man glared at his inferior partner. "If we're all stuck here, we may as well try to get along. We need to help each other as I'm trying to help comfort Elena."

Elena's face suddenly grew disappointed, and she thanked the darkness for once for concealing her emotions. _Is...is that all he's doing? Just being my boss... _Elena bit her lip to stop herself from letting any emotions get the best of her.__

Rude shook his head at the antics of his unusual coworkers. "Reno, I have a feeling your walking down the road to getting fired."

"Umm...excuse me..." the little voice rang timidly from outside the cell.

"I apologize," Tseng spoke to the girl. She looked to be about eight years old, her hair long, black, and thick, just like Tseng's. "You'll have to excuse my undisciplined underlings."

"Did you say your mom is here with you?" Elena said, pushing herself up from where Tseng had placed her and into an upright position. "What would you and your mother be doing in a place like this?"

"Well, they came to my house and said they were going to take me away. Mama, refused to let them and said I could only go if she came too. So my mama, my baby brother and me are all here. It was scary at first, but then I met really nice people like Riku and his girlfriend, Kaira. Draco is really nice too. Some of them aren't as nice though. Like Kotoba...she's creepy."

"Riku. Kaira. Draco. Kotoba," Elena said, listing off all the names. "Gah! Too many people! Who are they all? And why are they here?"

"More importantly," Rude added. "What would this sorceress want with a little girl?"

"They said that I had a power that Lady Lillith wanted." The girl looked up and down the hall to make sure they were alone. She then turned back to Rude and whispered, "Draco says I can use that power to get you out. But, shhh, no one is suppose to know."

Tseng was beginning to agree with Elena about the whole mess. All the names, all the "special abilities." None of it made sense. (A/N And I'm sure I'm confusing and annoying all of you just as much as I am the Turks) "Enough of this!" Tseng raised his voice slightly, more in frustration rather than anger. "Everyone be quiet and let me do the talking." He turned back toward the little girl. "Now, at least answer me this: What is your name?"

"My name is Rin," the young girl responded.

"Now, tell me who these other people are," Tseng continued. "This Riku. And Karra and Kotoba. And now there's someone named Draco too?"

"Riku is a small, black dragon. They call him the Dragon of Darkness, whatever that means. And Draco is a giant," the girl motioned with her hands and arms to emphasize the word 'giant,' "brown dragon who they call Dragon of Neu...Noootroll– ..."

"Neutrality?" Rude offered his assistance, remembering Riku had said about the three different dragons.

"Yeah! That! Then Karra is a quiet and pretty bad tempered woman if you ask me." Rin sounded rather offended at this. "Supposedly, Lillith MADE her! I don't know how that works, but it sounds cool whatever it means. And she made Kotoba as well. But I think she messed up on her, because Kotoba can't talk."

"And tell us about this 'Lillith'? Who is she? Why is she here?"

"I don't know," the little girl stared down at the ground. She sat in silence for a moment, but Tseng couldn't tell if it was because she was thinking or because the thought of the Sorceress depressed her. He assumed it could be either. After all, such a young girl living in such a place under such suspicious circumstances...that would frighten any child, and most adults as well.

"And you said you could get us out?" Tseng asked. He was quickly shushed by the little girl.

"I said that nobody else was suppose to know that!" she whispered. "So keep your voice down." Rin looked up and down the dark halls in suspicion. "Yeah," Rin whispered moving closer to the cell bars. "I can get you out, or at least that's what they told me. But you guys have to trust us or it wont work!" she said in gentle accusation.

"Trust you..." Tseng repeated, processing what this little girl could possibly be able to do to get them out.

"Come on, Sir," Elena stared innocently at Tseng. "What harm could such a sweet little girl do to us? I mean, I highly doubt there's a serial killer hidden inside her mind."

"Besides," Reno added as he lazily slumped back against the wall. "It's not like we have any other plan of escape."

Rude chuckled slightly. "Reno has a point for once."

Tseng stared at Rude and Reno for a moment. Then glanced back at Elena who was still staring at him with an awe filled, naive innocence. His team seemed to trust this idea. Why they were willing to put their lives in the hands of these strangers, he had no clue. But if they were willing to, he concluded that he should be as well. After all, Reno was right. They had no other plan.

Well, there's chapter two. A little boring, I know. But it was completely necessary. I mean, what would you rather have? One boring chapter with explanations, or a confusing fan fiction that doesn't explain anything? lol. Anyway, don't worry about being bored anymore. Then next chapters should have a lot more humor and a little slightly twisted romance too. Please leave a review to tell me what you thought!


	3. I Don't Wanna Be Rude

Okay, so I'm sorry again for taking so long to get this chapter up...I know I could SAY that I won't do it again...but that would be a lie. --sweat drop-- This chapter should have a little more action in it (I hope), and possibly the beginnings of a relationship. Hee hee. So then, enjoy chapter 3, and please leave a review!

**Chapter Three  
I Don't Wanna Be "Rude" **

The little blacked haired girl named Rin had spent the next few days going over the plan  
with Riku (the black dragon), Draco (the neutral dragon), Karra, and Kotoba. Rin's mother had been reluctant at first to let them go along with this, fearing the sorceress would be mad if she found out; but once she saw how eager her daughter was to help the  
prisoners, she didn't have the heart to say no.

Today was the day. Rin sat on a bench in the hallway of the Midgar building, kicking her legs back and forth with anticipation. _I hope I don't mess up,_ she thought. _What if something goes wrong? ...Nah! What could go wrong?_ Her optimism quickly pushed the  
thoughts to the back of her mind, where they continued to whisper to her.

Kotoba walked down the hallway to where Rin was sitting. The young girl, appearing to be about the same age as Rin, stopped in front of her and stared. Rin always felt uncomfortable around Kotoba, most people did. She had an uneasiness about her that seemed to spread to anyone else that caught sight of her. Kotoba gently clasped Rin's hand  
and urged the girl to follow.

"Is it time now?" Rin asked, standing up from the cold, stone bench.

Kotoba glanced back and nodded her head, her black, emotionless eyes piercing into Rin's own eyes. The two girls walked quietly down the hallway, passing by door after door. Finally, Kotoba stopped in front of one of the doors and opened it. This was it. If ever there was a time for Rin to master her powers, it was now.

"Rin," Riku said as the two girls entered the room, closing the door behind them and  
locking it. "You ready?" he asked.

"Umm...sure," she answered hesitantly. "Taking their souls out isn't gonna kill them, right?" This was a question that had been worrying her ever since they thought up this  
plan. She had asked the question many times and always got the same answer, but the  
thought of accidentally murdering someone still terrified her.

"Of course it's not," Draco answered. Draco was a tall and rather muscular man in his  
human form. His hair was brown and slightly unkempt, a little shorter than shoulder  
length. "The whole reason we're doing this is to save their lives. If we thought there was  
any chance of this killing them, there's no way we would do it." The man knelt down beside Rin. "You just take care of your part in all of this. And if anything goes wrong, let  
us handle it. Got it?"

Rin nodded, smiling confidently. "I'll do my best!"

"Karra," Draco stood back up. "Where is the sorceress now?"

"She's on her way to some bar in Sector Seven. Rumor has it there's a man and woman  
there attempting to start a rebellion against the sorceress. Some guy with a funny name  
like Sky...Cloud...Bird, something like that."

"Good. Then her attention is away from here, just as we had hoped."

"Good thing the Turks or whatever they call themselves knew those people in Sector Seven, huh," Riku added.

"Won't they mind being attacked by the sorceress?" Rin asked, obviously worried for the safety of the Turks' "friends."

"Nah, Reno said that they were good friends with 'em. They'll be happy to do them a favor."

-- --back in the dungeon-- --

"Reno, I still can't believe you made up that lie about Cloud and Tifa," Elena complained. "I mean, they could be in real trouble because of us."

"Cloud can handle it," Reno tried to convince her for what seemed like the hundredth time. "Besides, if they don't know who it was who made up that rumor about them, then  
they can't be mad at _us_, right?"

Elena sighed. She had to admit it was a good idea making up a rumor about a rebellion to get the sorceress away from her base, but she still felt bad. "It just seems so wrong."

"Well, consider it payback for them always kicking our ass in the past," he joked.

"Maybe," a voice came from the hall of the dungeon, "if you were actually good at fighting, you wouldn't get your ass kicked." Karra stopped in front of the cell and stared at  
Reno, the one she had directed that comment at.

"Actually good at fighting?" Reno repeated. "You've never even seen me fight before!  
How can you even make such a comment?"

"I've seen your type before," she answered. "Cocky, egotistical, and utterly weak."

Elena tried hard not to laugh, keeping her hand in front of her mouth to hide her giggles from Reno.

Reno kept his mouth shut, glaring deeply at the black haired woman and sighing in disgust and defeat.

"It's time," Karra stated. "The others are on their way."

"Wait," Elena started. "We don't even know what this plan is. Shouldn't you tell us?"

"Relax," Karra smiled. "You won't need to do a thing."

"We...we won't?" The four Turks were both confused and curious as to what was going to take place today.

Draco, Riku, and Rin showed up a few minutes later. Rin's was shaking with nervousness, but she hid it well behind her ever-smiling face.

"You ready?" Karra smiled down at Rin.

The girl nodded silently.

"Then I'm off." Karra said as she walked out of the dungeon. "Kotoba and I will be watching for you from the northwestern rooftop. You probably have about a half hour to get this done."

"Put on a good act for 'em, Karra!" Riku yelled to her.

"I always do."

"Okay...I _demand_ to be in on what's going on!" Tseng said as Riku and Rin walked through the iron bars in that weird way they did.

Draco was the first to jump in and answer, not trusting Riku to make the answer quick and brief enough with the short amount of time they had. "Basically, we're going to fake your murders. Rin here has the ability to take people's souls out of their body and place it in whatever body she pleases. We're gonna remove your souls and leave your bodies lying limp...so as to look dead. Karra is going to pretend that she is the one that killed you all. Then Riku and I are going to remove your bodies from Lilith's fortress. Once outside, Rin will be out there with Karra and Kotoba waiting for us, and we'll put your souls back in your bodies, and then you'll be free to escape."

Okay...not as brief as he was hoping...

Tseng had to think that through a moment. "Oh..." was all he was able to say in reply.

Elena on the other hand was a little more talkative. "You're gonna remove our what?!!"

"Your uterus," Reno answered.

"SHUT UP!" Elena yelled back, smacking him in the head.

"Ah, what's the matter, Elena?" Reno jumped in to make fun of her as he always did. "Not scared to be soulless, are ya?"

Riku smirked. "I'll take that as you volunteer to go first, Reno."

"Eh-I...uh..."

"Ha!" Elena yelled, pointing at him accusingly.

"Why must they both be so childish...?" Rude whispered to Tseng who just shook his head in response.

Rin nervously stepped over to Reno who was far more nervous than she was.

"This isn't gonna hurt is it?" he asked the little girl.

"I guess we'll find out, won't we?" Tseng answered for her. Reno just glared back at the man.

Rin stared Reno in the eyes with her right hand stretched out toward his chest. _Whoa,_ Reno thought. _My head...this was how I felt last time I got high...I need to keep this girl handy! _He then plopped down to the ground, motionless and utterly senseless.

(A/N but I suppose he's always senseless anyway)

"R-Reno?" Elena stuttered, shaking Reno's shoulder. "Is he okay?"

"No..." Rude examined Reno's pulse. "He's...he's dead!"

Elena's eyes widened in shock. "What? How could you do this to him? Oh my god, Reno!" she threw herself down on Reno's body and started crying.

Rude just shook his head at her naivety. "Elena, I was joking...he's fine."

Elena lifted her head and gave Rude a death glare that made even him shudder. "You were what...?"

After a quick outburst from Elena, Rin removed the souls of the other Turks as well, leaving all four of their bodies limp inside the prison cell.

"So then..." Riku said to Draco. "Lets haul these things out. And no touching Elena, okay Draco?"

"E...excuse me?" the older dragon argued. "Since when have I _ever_ been the _slightest_ bit perverted! _You_ on the other hand..."

-- --another area in the building-- --

"You did what?" a soldier yelled at Karra.

"Did you really expect me to let those bastards live for long?" Karra yelled back. "That red haired one wouldn't stop harassing me!" Karra smiled. "So I gave him what he deserved... Draco and Riku are in the process of carrying the bodies out to burn them."

The soldiers around her didn't know what to say to this information. "W-what will the Sorceress say?" one asked.

"She won't care," Karra snapped at them in annoyance. "It'd not like they were being used for anything. They had absolutely no useful information, and the only reason they were here in the first place was because they were snooping around...I did the Sorceress a favor by disposing of them..."

Her act seemed to work. The Sorceress's pawns all appeared to be convinced of her story. None of them would hold it past her to commit an act like murder, therefore they asked her no further questions.

Draco and Riku appeared in the room a moment later on their way out of the fortress. Both in their dragon forms, they each carried two seemingly lifeless bodies on their scaly backs. The two dragons said nothing as they past Karra and the men; likewise the men said nothing to the dragons.

Karra then turned and followed them out of the room, leaving the soldiers in a slight daze of confusion.

Just as planned, Kotoba and Rin were waiting outside the building. The group placed the bodies in the back of a van and drove away just in case anyone was spying on them. They drove to a back ally of Sector Seven before unloading the bodies again.

"You ready, Rin?" Riku asked, back in his human form now. "Your turn's up again."

The shy little girl nodded. She walked up to Tseng's body which was lying motionless on the filthy ground. Rin placed her hand on Tseng's slow-breathing chest and closed her eyes to concentrate. A glow appeared around her hand and swirled around a little before disappearing into Tseng's chest. The black haired man woke up seconds later.

He rubbed his head a bit sleepily. "Where are we?"

"Sector Seven, I think," Draco answered. "We haven't exactly learned our way around this damn town yet, but we think we're in the west part of Sector Seven."

"So your plan worked after all," Reno entered the conversation, yawning loudly.

Rin let out a scream suddenly and fell backwards away from Rude's body.

"Rin!" Riku yelled.

Two bright balls of light flashed from Rin's hand and flew into the air before finally settling down...one into Rude's body and the other into Elena's. The two Turk's started to wake up.

"Elena," Tseng said. "Rude, Are you two alright?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Rude said. His eyes widened in shock. "Oh my gosh! My voice!"

"Dude, you sound like Elena!" Reno joined in.

"He is Elena!" Elena said...only it wasn't Elena.

"...Rude?" Rude said to Elena.

Elena felt around herself a little, glancing at her hands and touching her hair and face. "I don't know how it happened, Elena...But you're me and I'm you."

Rude's (or rather Elena's) eyes widened even more now. "Wh...what!" Rude felt around himself as well and stopped with both hands on his head. "I'M BALD!"

Reno burst out laughing. Tseng wasn't so humored by this however. He walked up to Rude. "It's okay, Elena," he placed a hand on Rude's shoulder. Realizing after that how awkward it was to be hitting on Rude's body, he quickly removed his hand. "Eh...I'm sure, uh, Rin can fix this." He glanced back at Rin. "Right?"

"Well...I-I can try," she optimistically, yet nervously, answered.

"Ah!" Elena in Rude's body screamed. "I DON'T WANNA BE RUDE!"


End file.
